Seal-lock



(MedeL) J. G. MUSTIN.

SEAL LOOK. No. 325,620. Patented Sept. 1, 1885.

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UNITED ST TES PATENT Fries.

JAMES G. MUSTIN, OF PITTS BURG, PENN SYLVANTA.

SEAL-LOCK.

QPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 325,620, dated September 1, 1885.

Application filed May 28,1885. (ModcL) T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES G. Mus'rm, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seal-Locks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of locking devices known as seallocks, in which the locking is done by a frangible seal which prevents unlocking until it has been broken. The most extensive use of such locks is for sealing railway freightcars, and so I will describe my improvement, promising, however, that it may be used for securing other things as well, and that I do not wish tolimit the scope of my invention to any particular use. p

I will now describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 isa perspective view of the bolt,seal, and keeper when locked together, but not yet placed upon the car. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3is a side elevation of the keeper applied to theside of a car with the hasp placed over the keeper and the boltin position for locking. Fig. 4 is a view of the seal. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of bolt. Fig. 6 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same; and Fig. 7 is a view of the seal used with the modifications of Figs. and 6.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each.

The principal parts of my improvement are a keeper, which is affixed to the side of the car, a hasp attached to the door or other movable thing to be looked, a bolt for securing the hasp to the keeper, and a seal which is capable of being so aiiixed to the bolt that it cannot be removed from the boltnor the latter taken from the keeper without breaking or defacing the seal. 7 When the hasp, bolt, and seal have been adjusted upon the keeper so as to lock the car, they will form a certain means for detecting any forcing of the door by unauthorized persons.

To describe my improvement more particularly with reference to the first four figures of the drawings, 2 represents the keeper,

which is affixed to the side of the car so as to project outwardly, by abolt, 3, anda nut which is screwed upon the bolt inside of the car. The head or projecting part of the keeper consists of a forked or Ushaped piece of metal, the outer end of which is closed by a tongue, 5, which is mounted within the space between the two branches of the fork, and is made revoluble therein by 'a pint-1e, 6. (See Fig. l.) The tongue is made of proper length to leave a space between its end and the base of the keeper and between the legs ofthe latter, which is meant for the reception of the bolt.

Fitted within a slot in the tongue 5 is a dog, 8, which projects from the end of the tongue and is spring-actuated, so that it may be pushed within the tongue or allowed. to pro ject. The preferable construction 0t this part is that shown in Fig. 2, in which an axial hole is made in the tongue, extending to its end. A spiral spring, 9, is placed in the rear of the hole, and the dog or bolt 8 is superposed upon the spring. The dog consists of a piece of metal made in crossseetion to conform to the shape of the hole in the tongue, and of suitable length. Its outcr end is preferably beveled as the latches of door-locks are now commonly beveled, and there is a slot made through its body,t-hrough which there is fitted a riveted pin, 10. The function of the latter is to prevent the removal of the dog from its hole while permitting it to move throughout closed together there may be a single recess of 9 proper size to receive the seal. One of the hinged legs of the bolt has at its end ahead or flange, 15, which is of greater width than the bolt-hole between the tongue 5 and thebase of the keeper, and will therefore not permit the ICO bolt to be drawn through the latter. The whole of the remainderof thebolt when closed is, however, of less size than this hole, so that the bolt may be inserted thereinto to be suspended by the head or flange 15, as shown in Fig. 1. One of the legs of thebolt, preferably the shorter oue,12,when they are made of unequal size, is provided with a hole, 16, which is so located as to be opposite to the position of the dog 8 when the bolt is putin the keeper and the tongue 5 depressed. The seal is shown in Fig. 4, and consists of a piece of frangible material-such as cast-iron or glass-preferably rectangular in general configuration, and provided at one side with a recess or notch, 17, which is a little wider than is the slot 14 of the closed bolt, so that the lugs 19 at each side of the recess may straddle the base of the slot when placed thereon. The distancefrom the base of the notch 17 to the opposite side of the seal is about the same as the length of the slot 14. The consequence is that the seal may be placed within the slot of the bolt by opening the latter and then closing the legs upon the seal; but the lugs 19 prevent its withdrawal thence without again opening the bolt.

Thus constructed the operation of the device is as follows: The hasp 20, which is hinged to the car-door, is fitted over the head of the keeper. The tongue 5 is then raised so as to enlarge the bolt-hole of the keeper, the bolt is opened, and it is dropped into the bolt-hole until its head rests upon the sides of the keeper. (See Fig. 3.) The seal 18 is then placed against the leg 13 of the bolt within the recess of the latter, and the other leg is raised 011 its pintle until it reaches its companion and incloses the seal in the slot 14. This may be done while the bolt is in the keeper, because of the raising of the tongue 5 out of the path of the bolt. This having been done, the tongue is depressed 011 its pivot until the dog 8 at its end, having engaged the side of the bolt and having been retracted thereby, comes into opposition to the bolt 16, into which it slips and locks the tongue, as in Fig. 2. The bolt cannot then be taken out of the keeper without disengaging the seal, for the seal prevents its upward movement, and the fixed head 15 prevents its downward movement, while the engagement of the dog 8 with the bolt keeps the tongue 5 from being raised out of place. If, however, one of the projecting sides of the seal be broken so as to break off one of the lugs 19, the seal may be broken out of the slot from the other side and the bolt withdrawn by lifting it upward, for the fit of the bolt within the eye of the keeper is not so tight that the dog 8 will hold it of itself, but it will permit the tongue to be raised on its axis when the bolt is raised. After removing the bolt the hasp may be removed from the keeper and the car opened, as will be readily understood. The

purpose of curving the end of the tongue 5 and its contact-surflace 21 on the bolt is that the former may be easily turned into position in looking without need of making the hole unduly large.

The advantages of this bolt over others of its class consist in its superior simplicity, cheap ness of manufacture, and efficiency. There are no complicated parts of mechanism to become disordered, and the car can be opened simply by breaking the seal, and without in any way injuring the bolt.

The modification shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7 is similar to that hereinbefore described in so far as the construction of the keeper, its pivoted tongue, and hasp are concerned. The bolt, however, is different. Instead of making it in two parts hinged together, it is made of a rigid piece, with the seal-slot 14 cut transversely through its body. A belt or dog, 22, is mounted within a'longitudinal hole in the bolt and projects therefrom into the seal-slot 14. This dog is provided with a spring, 23, for projecting it, as before described with reference to the spring of the dog 8. The seal of this bolt is somewhat similar to the seal before described, but needs have a notch, 17, only of the size of the end. of the dog 22, and capable of confining the latter. The edges of the base of the seal are preferably beveled, as shown in Fig. 7. The proper mode of locking by this form of bolt, after the hasp has been put upon the keeper, is to drop the bolt into the eye of the latter until the head 15 strikes upon its sides, then to depress the tongue 5 until its pin 8 enters the hole 16 in the side of the bolt, and finally to insert the seal. The latter is done by pushing the seal into the slot l4,when the beveled corner engaging the dog 22 will force it downward out of the path of the seal until the notch 17 comes into opposition to the dog. The latter will then springinto the notch and confine the seal so securely that it cannot be removed unless it be broken out.

' In constructing this form of bolt I deem it preferable to cast it in longitudinal pieces or sections a and I), which are then riveted together. This is convenient, because it enables the bore to be more easily made for the spring 23 and dog 22. I do not, however, desire to limit myself to this mode of manufacture, nor to the exact construction of any of the part which I have described.

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is-

1. In a seal-lock, the combination of a keeper having a bolt-hole, a tongue pivoted in the keeper, a bolt capable of insertion within the bolt-hole and of engaging the pivoted tongue, and a seal securable to the bolt so as to project therefrom, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination of a keeper having a bolt-hole, a tongue pivoted in the keeper, a bolt capable of insertion within the bolt-hole and of engaging the pivoted tongue, said bolt being made of separable parts capable of being opened and closed, and a seal for insertion be ing. opened and closed, anda seal for insertion 1o tween the parts of the bolt, substantially as between the pat-ls of the bolt, subsfiantielly as and for the purposes described. and for the purposes described.

3. The combination of a keeper having a In testimony whereof I have hereunto set bolthole, a tongue pivoted. in the keeper, a my hand this 21st day of May, A. D. 1885. dog or pin on the tongue, a bolt capable of in J AMES G. MUSTIN. sortion Within the bolt-hole and of engaging Vitnesses: the dog or pin of the pivoted tongue, said bolt JOHN S. KENNEDY, being made of separable parts capable of be l CHAS. A. MOORE. 

